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11/10/2013

Gun Owners versus Bloomberg in 2013 elections

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg's endorsed candidate obviously won the governor's race (even if it was close), and he spent a lot of money there. There was clearly a big difference in gun control views for the Republican and Democratic candidates. From KCUR Radio (public radio):

Among outside players in the final week, Independence USA PAC – New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s (I) pro-gun control group – led the way with $346,000 in advertising, all of it in the Washington market. Purple PAC shelled out $103,000 to help Libertarian Robert Sarvis, who spent $22,000 himself. . . .

The Virginia attorney general's race is still slightly leaning towards the Republican. From Politico:

Some 95 key members of the group that targets and criticizes lawmakers backed by the National Rifle Association are losing their title of “mayor.” According to an election review of Bloomberg's membership list of about 1,000, three quit the group, 69 retired from their jobs, and 23 were rejected by voters. . . .

The California billionaire spent nearly that much from his personal fortune to make an example of Republican Ken Cuccinelli for his arch-conservative views on the environment. The sum is more than three times the investment that’s been previously reported, and it nearly matched what the Republican Governors Association, the largest GOP outside spender, put into the Virginia governor’s race. It is more money, on a per-vote basis, than the famously prolific conservative donors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson spent in the 2012 presidential election. . . .

By the way, this $8 million by the Republican Governors Association puts the lie to the claim that the Republican establishment abandoned Cuccinelli.

2 Comments:

Bloomberg has claimed that the Virginia governor election results show that Virginians have embraced gun control. Nothing could be further from the truth. The majority of Virginians voted for pro gun candidates for governor. Unfortunately, there were two such candidates, Cuccinelli the republican and Sarvis who calls himself a Libertarian. This split the vote, and allowed anti second amendment candidate Mcauliffe to win with less than fifty percent of the vote. That is hardly an endorsement of gun control by Virginia

A new group, 'Gun Owners Against Illegal Mayors', suggests that, due to the surprising number of criminally convicted mayors that are members, Bloomberg's group, 'Mayors Against Illegal Guns,' would be more aptly named: 'Illegal Mayors Against Guns.'

Rap sheets for eleven members of Bloomberg's group:http://www.stopillegalmayors.com/